Plugin Architecture via Abp and Angular4+

This repository works on building a plugin architecture using ASP.NET boilerplate framework and angular 4+. It is the implementation of my idea discussed in this thread

How it works

1. The backend (Host) plugin architecture system made use of the ASP.NET Boilerplate template.
2. The frontend (UI) plugin is developed using multiple angular4+ applications. When the plugin is done, we need to compile and build the UI to get the minified js, html, css and assets files. Then, put the plugin-ui into the main ui wwwroot folder and use a hosting-server to run the UI. Then, voila, we can now use the plugin.

How do we add the plugin

1. Firstly, we need a json file that states the name of the plugin, the folder name that holds all the backend dlls, the suburl needed by the plugin. You can see example at /aspnet-core/Todo.DemoPlugin/Todo.DemoPlugin.Web.Core/Todo.Demoplugin.json
2. We need to build the Angular UI, zip them, then embed into a plugin dll, which in our case is the *.Web.Core.dll, see: /aspnet-core/Todo.DemoPlugin/Todo.DemoPlugin.Web.Core/Todo.DemoPlugin.Web.Core.csproj
3. After building the project, you can copy and paste a json file along with the *.dll files into /aspnet-core/src/Todo.MainProject.Web.Host/PlugIns
4. We can automate the process using powershell as shown in /aspnet-core/Todo.DemoPlugin/Todo.DemoPluginDeploy.ps1
5. On the UI side, the main UI will automatically detect if there are any added plugin and download them. The downloader is written in C#. You can find it in /plugin-downloader/
6. After adding the plugin, whenever the plugin is updated, we just need to replace the *.dll.

Prerequisite

1. Setup the project accordingly according to the ASP.NET Boilerplate Documentation
2. Install Yarn
3. Has Powershell available.

Quick Start

Run the Host

1. Navigate to /aspnet-core and open Todo.MainProject.sln
2. Set /src/Todo.MainProject.Web.Host as StartUp project
3. **[First time only] Open Package Manager Console and run Update-Database command to create your database (ensure that Default project is selected as Todo.MainProject.EntityFrameworkCore in the Package Manager Console window).
4. Build & Run.

Run the UI

1. Navigate to /angular and open a powershell
2. **[First time only] Run Yarn
3. Run ng build --prod, then Run dotnet run
4. Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:4200

Website with Plugin

1. Setup the project once: Ran Update-Database and Yarn
2. Run addPlugin.ps1 located in the root level.
3. Now Run the Host then Run the UI

FAQ

1. Can we use yarn start or npm start instead of running ng build and dotnet run?
   • Running yarn start or npm start would not see the plugin, so, if you want to see the plugin, then no.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Aspnetboilerplate for their amazing work!

If you are interested in the template, please see: Aspnetboilerplate Template Readme